In this article, a new Pseudorandom Number Generator (PRNG) construction is proposed. It is based on cellular automata (CAs) and comprises other cryptographic primitives organized as blocks. Each of these blocks has a purpose and serves toward obtaining a higher level of randomness. The construction described is modular, and each of its blocks can be replaced, modified, or adapted according to the user, the application, or the level of randomness required. The authors first describe a general structure and the design principles behind each of the components. Next, a concrete example using the SHA-3 hash function, a hybrid cellular automaton, and the AES block cipher is provided. Then, the security analysis and the statistical properties for this specific instance of the scheme are presented.
CFA: A New Family of Hybrid CA-Based PRNGs
